Thunder
by SilverSwirls
Summary: Hikaru admits his feelings for Haruhi under the cover of a storm.


Hikaru thought the stained glass didn't look as pretty when a backdrop of storm clouds and pounding rain clouded them. Of course, he never really thought of stained glass all that often. In fact, he wished this old church hadn't been the only place for him to run to when it started to storm.

But he was warm and relatively dry, so what was there to complain about?

Besides being alone and having no idea where his twin had run off to earlier. That caused a bit of worry, but he was sure Kaoru and Haruhi were still together. Neither of them would be alone through the storm and when it lightened up he'd go find them, along with the rest of the host club. Hikaru had to admit he was a bit bitter that Kaoru had towed Haruhi off to find the last of their clues. Hikaru couldn't help it he was a bit slow in figuring the riddles out, plus it seemed that Haruhi had done most of the work anyway. And why hadn't Tamaki taken the weather into account when deciding they'd go out today anyway?

"A scavenger hunt!" Tamaki exclaimed after finally wrangling the rest of the host club together. "A scavenger hunt around the city, we'll look for clues to lead to the prize!"

"And that prize would be?" Kyoya had been the only one not to join them in the center of the room. He was still looking over the clubs numbers for the month and sounded rather uninterested in some scavenger hunt.

"I won't tell, it's a surprise!" Tamaki declared dramatically.

"Why a scavenger hunt?" Haruhi spoke up.

"Well, I saw a group of children playing one in the park the other day. They looked like they were having so much fun, so I think this is the perfect activity for us."

"I think we should do it!" Honey cheered, which left Mori to nod in agreement with him.

"We'll work together in groups, two groups of two and one of three," Tamaki explained, his eyes immediately landing on Haruhi. "Haruhi-"

"Can be on a team with us!" The twins exclaimed, leaving Tamaki's words to fall short and his expression to drop. He looked ready to object, but his demeanor seemed to deflate as the twins each hooked an arm with Haruhi.

"What do you say?" Kaoru questioned.

"With us together on a team, we'll surely win."

"You can even keep the prize."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure we don't need it." Hikaru nodded in agreement. Haruhi smiled, agreeing as she slipped her arms away from the brothers. Mori silently declared his partnering with Honey, leading Kyoya to snap his book closed and join Tamaki.

"Well…" The disappointed blonde uttered, "looks like we're partners."

Hikaru had been a bit smug in stealing Haruhi away to be he and Kaoru's partner. Any time he could spend with her was a win. Being able to spend time with her and his brother? Having two of his favorite people around? It was perfect. That was until she and Kaoru ran off. Hikaru had wandered around on his own trying to find the clue he was left with until the clouds in the sky grew darker and rain began to trickle down. Not wanting to be stuck in wet clothes he ran to a church nearby, deciding that it would be okay to wait in. He texted Kaoru and waited for a reply.

Hikaru had been painfully bored until he heard the doors yanked open. He looked over, expected his brother and Haruhi, but found only Haruhi was hurrying inside. She was dripping wet frazzled looking, leaving Hikaru to give her an odd look. But when a horrible crack of thunder echoed and Haruhi practically fell to her knees to cover ears and cower he remembers.

Right. He told himself, she's scared of storms. He gave himself a bit of a slap on the wrist for not thinking of the girl's fear but made way towards her. Haruhi was tearing up silently. Her hands were covering her ears. Her palms seemed to grow white with just how hard she was pressing and trying to block out the thundering noises outside. Hikaru's eyes softened at the sight of his usual calm and confident friend cowering in fear.

Sometime's Haruhi's fear of storms slipped his mind. It didn't come from an uncaring place; sometimes it just didn't seem real to him. At times it felt as if she wasn't afraid of anything, being so brave and strong. Always down to earth and collected, yet she was afraid of something Hikaru found so mundane.

Hikaru sat down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her into a kind of half hug. "Are you alright?" It was a dumb question, he knew that. Of course, she wasn't alright.

"I'll be...fine" she slowly spoke. Hikaru could feel her trying to make herself smaller as she ducked her head at the sound of another thunderous boom. Haruhi's teeth ground in anticipation as she waited for them to continue. Thunder rumbled and lightning cracked against the dim sky. She had heard talks about the possible rain today, but nothing about such a nasty storm rolling in. She hadn't really noticed the mean clouds slowly moving in either, she'd been too busy trying to help Kaoru figure that stupid hint out. She wished she had noticed. She could've gone home, or prepare herself better to deal with this. She and Kaoru had ended up splitting up as well, so she'd been alone with it all came. She'd run immediately at the first sound of thunder, looking for somewhere to take refuge in. She'd been overjoyed to see Hikaru waiting here as well, at least she didn't have to be completely alone.

"Come on," Hikaru said, "let's talk about something Haruhi" he purposed, trying to find something to take her mind away from the fear she was experiencing.

"Like what?"

That's a good question. Hikaru shot a quick glance around the room, "you look nice today" he blurted out the first thought to come to find. It seemed all he'd seen her in these past few weeks was her host uniform, and while she looked fine in it- her normal clothing was just as adorable in his eyes. Haruhi let out a small breath with a slight laugh towards the end.

"Thanks, Hi-" Haruhi's voice was drowned out with another boom, her mouth and eyes snapped closed and she turned away from him to look at the floor, her arms again moving to cover her ears. Hikaru shifted so that his body was facing hers and both his arms moved around her. He pulled her into a loose hug, her head pressing against his chest as he keeps his somewhat embarrassed gave focused on the wall behind her. He felt bad that he didn't have anything to help block her hearing, but he felt even worse that he wasn't sure of what to say to her. Everything he thought of felt generic and bland.

"I know you're scared- it'll be over soon" he promised, telling himself to just talk to her and distract her from the storm. "I didn't like this scavenger hunt idea much in the first place. It feels a bit childish, but that's Tamaki for you" he spoke quickly, "but working with you and Kaoru was fun, I like when we…" he grew a bit red, "I like when we spend time together outside of the host club...it's nice." he admitted, his cheeks stained red. Haruhi didn't say anything, maybe because she couldn't hear most of what he was saying over the noise. She'd Haruhi so afraid almost made Hikaru afraid. Afraid that he couldn't even manage to comfort her. He wasn't the best at this kind of thing. He could comfort his brother no problem and he could act exceptionally for his guests at the club, but when it came to anything to do with Haruhi he always found himself struggling, he wished it could be easier for him to say these kinds of things out loud to her rather than to himself.

Even Hikaru could feel himself tensing as a collection of loud rumbles seemed to assault them. Haruhi pressed closer into him and he tightened his hold a bit. His eyes squeezed shut and he could feel his face burning before he even got what he wanted to say next out. "Haruhi- you're amazing!" He exclaimed, his voice drowned out by the thunder. "I'm a jerk sometimes, but I care about you- I care about you a lot!"

"Haruhi I-" Hikaru's voice caught in his throat as the thunder slowly died down. Haruhi took a moment to collect herself with shaky breaths.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you very well." She looked up with still wet eyes. Hikaru almost sighed in relief, he had hoped the thunder had been loud enough to drown his little burst out. "What were you going to say?"

"I was just spouting nonsense- trying to distract you." He breathed, "it doesn't matter."

Haruhi gave him an unconvinced look but didn't seem to dwell on it too long. "Thank you' she breathed, "for helping me through this. It might not seem like it, but you just being here helps." The storm was still raging, as was her anxiety. They separated, but Hikaru kept an arm around her in an attempt to comfort her. Hikaru was glad she hadn't gone on to question him, after all, his feelings weren't what mattered at the moment. All that mattered was that Haruhi wasn't afraid.


End file.
